Beit HaKerem (; ''lit''. "house of the vineyard") is a largely secular upscale neighborhood in southwest
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. It is located between
Kiryat Moshe to the northwest and
Bayit VeGan to the south. Beit HaKerem has a population of 15,000.
History

Remnants from the
First Temple
Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (), was a biblical Temple in Jerusalem believed to have existed between the 10th and 6th centuries BCE. Its description is largely based on narratives in the Hebrew Bible, in which it was commis ...
,
Second Temple
The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...
,
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
and
Mamluk
Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...
periods were discovered in a dig on HaSatat Street in 2006. It is named for the biblical city of Beit Hakerem near Jerusalem mentioned in Jeremiah 6:1 and Nehemiah 3:14.
The neighborhood was founded in 1922 as one of six
garden cities developed in Jerusalem during the days of the
British Mandate for Palestine. Beit HaKerem was planned by
Ricard Kaufmann, an architect notable for his
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
style, and was at the time separated from the rest of the city by large swaths of undeveloped land. Beit Hakerem has continued to maintain its 'green' character.
According to a
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
conducted in 1931 by the
British Mandate authorities, Beit HaKerem had a population of 550 inhabitants, in 148 inhabited houses.
[Mills, 1932, p]
38
/ref>
In the 1960s and 1970s, many university professors and students sought housing in Beit Hakerem due to its proximity to the Givat Ram
Givat Ram () is a neighborhood in central Jerusalem. It is the site of Kiryat HaMemshala (Hebrew language, Hebrew: קריית הממשלה, ''lit.'' Government complex), which includes many of Israel's most important national institutions, among t ...
campus of the Hebrew University, built when the Mount Scopus
Mount Scopus ( ', "Mount of the Watchmen/ Sentinels"; ', lit. "Mount Lookout", or ' "Mount of the Scene/Burial Site", or "Mount Syenite") is a mountain (elevation: above sea level) in northeast Jerusalem.
Between the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...
campus was cut off from Jerusalem in 1948.
Beit HaKerem tends to vote left in elections. In the 2021 Israeli legislative election
Legislative elections were held in Israel on 23 March 2021 to elect the 120 List of members of the twenty-fourth Knesset, members of the 24th Knesset. It was the fourth Knesset election in two years, amidst the continued 2018–2022 Israeli poli ...
, the highest number of votes from Beit HaKerem went to Meretz
Meretz (, ; ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It had no seats in the Knesset following its failure ...
(23%), Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
(16%), and Yesh Atid
Yesh Atid (, ) is a centrist political party in Israel. It was founded in 2012 by former TV journalist Yair Lapid, the son of the former Shinui party politician and Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid.
In 2013 the first election it conte ...
(15%).
Education
The neighborhood has 25 kindergartens, four elementary schools and three high schools considered among the most prestigious in Jerusalem. The David Yellin College of Education, established in 1913, is located in Beit HaKerem, as is the David Shapell College of Jewish Studies. A footbridge from Beit HaKerem over the Begin Highway connects to the Hebrew University Secondary School
Hebrew University High School (), commonly known as ''Leyada'' (literally "next to"), is a semi-private high school in Jerusalem, established in 1935 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The school is located next to the Givat Ram campus of th ...
and to the
Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
.
Parks and landmarks
Gan Ha'esrim park in Beit Hakerem (Park of the Twenty) commemorates 20 residents who died in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...
. Denmark Square (Kikar Denya) honors the Danish people for rescuing approximately 93⅓% percent of its Jewish population during the Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. The monument in the square is shaped like a boat, recalling the boats on which Jews were smuggled to Sweden. Two connecting parks for kids, Gan HaShachar and Gan HaGai, are also located in the neighborhood.
Transportation
The Jerusalem Light Rail
The Jerusalem Light Rail (, ''HaRakevet HaKala Birushalayim'', , ''Qiṭār Al-Quds Al-Khafīf'') is a light rail system in Jerusalem. Currently, the Red Line (Jerusalem Light Rail), Red Line is the only one in operation, the first of several ...
, which began service in late 2011, passes through Beit HaKerem and has three stops there—Ha-'Haluts, Denia Square and Yefe Nof—providing convenient, rapid transportation to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, the Binyanei Hauma
The International Convention Center (, ''Merkaz HaKongresim HaBeinLeumi''), commonly known as Binyanei HaUma (, lit. ''Buildings of the nation''), is a concert hall and convention center in Giv'at Ram in Jerusalem.
History
Binyanei Ha'Uma was fi ...
international convention center, the new terminus of the high-speed rail to Tel Aviv (28 minutes), Cinema City, the Machaneh Yehudah market, as well as to downtown Jerusalem, Zion Square, the Ben Yehudah pedestrian mall, Jerusalem City Hall, the Mamilla shopping mall and the Old City near Jaffa Gate and Damascus Gate.
Public services
Denmark Square in the center of Beit Hakerem adjoins a shopping center.
Yad Sarah, the largest voluntary organization in Israel, which lends medical equipment and provides other services for free or at nominal costs is located in Beit HaKarem, along with Shaare Zedek Medical Center, one of Jerusalem's main hospitals.
Notable residents
* Nir Barkat, former mayor of Jerusalem and current member of the Knesset
*Yehoram Gaon
Yehoram Gaon (; born December 28, 1939) is an Israeli singer, actor, director, comedian, producer, TV and radio host, and public figure. He has also written and edited books on Israeli culture.
The son of Sephardic Jewish parents—a Bosnian f ...
, singer, actor, director, producer, and TV and radio host
* Nehemia Levtzion (1935—2003), scholar of African history, Near East, Islamic, and African studies, President of the Open University of Israel
The Open University of Israel (, ''Ha-Universita ha-Ptuha'') is a distance education, distance-education university in Israel. It is one of ten public universities in Israel recognized by the Council of Higher Education (CHE).
Open University ...
, and Executive Director of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute is a center for interdisciplinary study in the humanities and social sciences, and the development of new ways of addressing questions of global concern that hold special importance for Israeli society and the r ...
* Elon Lindenstrauss, mathematician
*Reuven Rivlin
Reuven "Ruvi" Rivlin ( ; born 9 September 1939) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the president of Israel between 2014 and 2021. He is a member of the Likud party. Rivlin was Minister of Communications from 2001 to 2003, and su ...
, President of The State Of Israel
* Alice Shalvi, educator
*Karnit Flug
Karnit Flug (; born January 9, 1955) is a Polish-born Israeli economist and government official who served as the 9th governor of the Bank of Israel from 2013 to 2018. She was the first, and to date the only, woman to hold that position.
Biograph ...
, former governor of The Bank of Israel
* Ely Schiller, Archaeologist, publisher.
Further reading
*Eliyahu Wagar, Beit hakerem neighbourhood. Jerusalem : Bet Vaad hayashan, 1991 (Hebrew).
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beit Hakerem, Jerusalem
Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem
1922 establishments in Mandatory Palestine
Populated places established in 1922